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men's lifestyle blog, blog for guysFri, 31 Jul 2015 16:00:41 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3How to Start Your Own Microbreweryhttp://blog.bullz-eye.com/2015/04/23/how-to-start-your-own-microbrewery/
http://blog.bullz-eye.com/2015/04/23/how-to-start-your-own-microbrewery/#commentsThu, 23 Apr 2015 12:27:17 +0000http://blog.bullz-eye.com/?p=45269One afternoon, you’re sipping an ice-cold craft beer, and it hits you — the only thing better than drinking good beer is making good beer (and then drinking it, of course). Perhaps you’ve experimented with some home-brewing equipment and have perfected an original recipe or two, but what you really want is to turn your hobby into a lucrative business. Starting a successful microbrewery takes passion and talent, but it also requires a great deal of business savvy. If you’re serious about starting a craft beer company, here is what you’ll need to know.

Aspiring microbrewers often leap into the business without understanding the science that goes into making beer. Fermentation is a complex chemical process involving the microorganism that we know as yeast. Understanding how each ingredient affects the process and taste of the final product is essential. That means that you should have at least some home-brewing experience under your belt.

Raising Capital

Ideally, you’ve served a few of your prize formulas to friends with deep pockets because starting a brewery is not cheap. Figure out what it would cost to buy all the equipment you need and how much your rent would be for a commercial space. On top of that figure, add 30 percent to give you enough working capital for the first few months. Potential sources of funding include banks, family, friends, investors, or even crowdfunding.

Drafting a Business Plan

You won’t be able to attract investors without a sound business plan. The plan should include your initial expenses, revenue predictions, marketing strategy, distribution systems, and staff. You can either write your own plan or hire a professional, but the latter can get costly. This is where some business training can take you a long way. If you earn an MBA online, for example, you can boost your business acumen without having to take time away from brewing.

Setting Up Shop

To reduce your initial capital needs, try to find high-quality, used brewing equipment. You’ll need fermenting machines, kettles, hot and cold storage tanks, kegs, a bottling machine, and a walk-in cooler, just to name a few items. Depending on the size and quality, the requisite equipment for a brewery can cost anywhere from a few hundred thousand dollars to several million.

Managing the Business

This is another area where business know-how is a must. You’ve probably thought extensively about making and selling your beer, but what about accounting, marketing plans, financial reports, and the other less-sexy aspects of running a business? No matter how delicious your beer is, your brewery doesn’t stand a chance if you drop the ball on the business end of things. If you’re not equipped to handle the business affairs, think about hiring an accountant or business manager.

The cool factor of running your own microbrewery is off the charts, but you’ll need to hang on to your inner nerd to make it happen. If you put as much time and passion into the business side of brewing as you do your beer, your brewery stands an excellent chance of long-term success.

]]>http://blog.bullz-eye.com/2015/04/23/how-to-start-your-own-microbrewery/feed/0So You Want To Be A Pilothttp://blog.bullz-eye.com/2013/01/17/so-you-want-to-be-a-pilot/
http://blog.bullz-eye.com/2013/01/17/so-you-want-to-be-a-pilot/#commentsThu, 17 Jan 2013 21:20:36 +0000http://blog.bullz-eye.com/?p=23107

Becoming a certified pilot is a challenging but rewarding process. Once you get your pilot license you will probably want to spend as much time in the air as possible. The freedom and excitement of soaring high above everything else does wonders for the mind and soul. But before you climb above the clouds you will want to make sure you have a few air plane and pilot accessories to fly with.

A quality GPS system is highly important for direction and location when you are flying. You can find a Garmin aera 500 Portable Aviation GPS for around $699. It has a fingertip navigation, and touch screen capabilities as well we the ability to smoothly transition from a motoring GPS to a flying GPS. The lithium-ion battery it runs on will last up to 5 hours and it can log up to the 30 most recent flights. You can go a little higher end on a GPS system like the Garmin aera 796 Aviation, but it will run you up to $2,749.

Depending on the type of flying you plan on doing you may be reaching high altitudes which can be risky to your breathing and other health functions. Carrying a small oximeter can help you monitor your vitals so you don’t risk getting sick, or passing out. The Oxi-Go Pro Pulse Oximeter is a lightweight affordable meter to monitor your blood oxygen saturation and heart rate during your high altitude flights. It is easy to read with high resolution OLED displays and has six different display modes for reading, along with almost a dozen brightness settings to make sure you can easily see it as you fly through any environment.

Skygeek Headsets are also important for maintaining contact and communication with other pilots, or traffic controllers and ground crew operators. The Sennheiser HMEC 250 headset is affordable and popular and can be found for less than $500. The Sennheiser is ideal for general flying atmospheres and is equipped with NoiseGard 2.0 noise reduction technology. Its features include amazing transmission quality for communication clarity, good passive attenuation, talk-through function allowing for direct communication within the cockpit, and a unique collapsible design for saving space.

For under $70 pilots can purchase an ASA CX-2 Pathfinder to help them calculate true airspeed, ground speed, Mach number, altitudes, fuel, headings and courses, and so much more. The Pathfinder is an electronic flight computer with a library of 34 functions giving pilots access to 40 aviation calculations, including weight and balance. This includes calculating time/speed/distance, winds, headwind/crosswind component, and gliding information. It has a large LCD screen that is easy to read and fast display prompts for easy use.

Becoming an aviator for recreation, or a profession can really be a lot of fun. But you have to be prepared for virtually any flight and in-air flying situation. With gadgets and accessories like these you may not be able to predict every possible situation, but you can be able to be prepared and survive it.